Three companies, qualifying for the tender of the wind energy plant in the Suez Gulf, have requested the postponement of the date for their bids to be submitted in January 2019, instead of this December. The date was originally determined by the New and Renewable Energy Authority (NREA).

Officials in the companies qualified for the tender informed Daily News Egypt, that several questions were sent to the NREA. However, there has been no response despite the visits made to the project’s locations over two weeks ago.

The three companies are Vestas, Siemens, and Senvion. The KfW bank is arranging a loan to fund the project.

Officials added that the most prominent inquiries include clarifications on the power transformers that will transfer the energy produced from the project to the national electricity grid, however, the companies have not received any answers yet.

The same officials have expressed their surprise at the insistence of the NREA to schedule 9 December as the last day for accepting submitted bids. When an extension of the period was requested, the NREA said that a two-week extension is possible, however, the new date may coincide with Christmas celebrations, which is a very difficult time.

The officials explained that mid-January or the last week of January will be an ideal time to submit offers to establish the wind energy plant in the Suez Gulf.

According to informed sources’ statement to DNE, the loan offered by the parties providing the funding, most prominently the KfW, is estimated to be €260m. The period for the funding provision will finish by the end of this year, which means that companies must submit their offers on time, without any delays.

The period specified for the no-objection procedures, and the bid by KfW is 16 months. They have requested from companies to offer their bids for the project within a month and a half.